Bandage



Nov. 28, 1950 M. s. WHINERY 2,531,757

BANDAGE Filed Feb. 5, 1947 INVENTOR MARGARET 5. Wnmnc y Patented Nov. 28, 1950 "UNITED "STATES PATENT OFFICE EBANDAGE Margaret S. ,Whincry, .Anthony,.Kans.

Application'February 5, 194V, Se1*ialNo."726,565

.8 Claims. .1

"This invention relates to improvements in bandages. More particularly, this invention relates to an improved nonslip surgical bandage that can be used to :hold sterile dressings and gauzein position against the person .of the user.

It is, therefore, ancobje'ct of the presentiinvention to provide an improved pnonslip surgical bandage that can hold sterile dressings and agauze imposition.

In the :field of medicine. and particularly in the field of surgery, it is oftentimes necessary to make incisions in the skinand flesh of .a patient or to close cuts or wounds in the skin and flesh of a :patient. Where this :is aclone it is desirable to iapplysterile dressings .orfgauze to the wound, and then use some means to maintainthedressings and gauze in position. In some instances the dressings and gauze can be heldin place by adhesive "tape which is applied directly to the dressings or gauze and to the skin of the patient; but in many instances the use of adhesive tape is not desirable because the tape will adhere so tightly to the :patientsskin'thatremoval of the tape may cause such a movement or pulling of the skin and flesh being healed that the time oihealing may be needlessly :prolonged. Efiorts have been made toavoid theuse of adhesivetape for holding dressings or gauze in position and thus avoid the consequent retardation of the which would eliminate the use of adhesive items and would xtendto resist any tendency to slip or shift; and those bandages were made ofrrubber or elastic .fabric and would press against the patients skin with appreciable force. Such rbandages are not completelysatisfactory because the :material of which they are made is notacceptable :to all persons,and, in-addition it is more expensive than ordinary cloth. Furthermore,

1o. such ibandages must be quite large to have. -sufficiently large area -of contact with the skin rat the ilLlSfiI' to prevent slipping or shifting; :and, as a result, those bandages are unduly confining. In additionythe flexible material of those band- 15 sages overlies the dressing-S101 gauze :andL-rcan the stretched sufficiently to :cause displacement 101' shifting of "the :dressings :or gauze. Again this :is objectionable since it may cause needless :bleedsing :or may :facilitate the "onset 10f infection. .For

,20 thesezreasons, surgicalbandages which are made .of rubber or elastic fabric are not satisfactory. fllhe present invention obviates these objections shy providing a .nonslip surgical bandage that is ilargely made of ordinary cloth. It is therefore flfi'an object of the "present invention :to provide ;a

wnonslip surgical bandage that is largely .made of iClOth.

Surgical bandages should be capable of :being eused with patients of various sizes and shapes,

hea n p one of these efiorts included the so and they should 'be usable with such patients use of bandages that passed completely around the body of the user and pressed'the sterile=dressings or gauze against the incision or --w0und. Unfortunately many of the bandages proposed withoutexerting undue pressures on any portions [of the patients :bodies. some surgical bandages have been proposed which could 'be adjusted to "patients lo'f 'difierent sizes and shapes, but those or used for this purpose have :not been satisfaca bandages either relied on the :resiliency of the tory; whiletheyzwere free of the tendency-.to'move or pull the skin and "flesh of the patient they were subject to a pronounced "tendency to slip or shift away from the sterile dressings or gauze fastening means .or the *material adjacent there- -to to provide adjustment, :or they relied aupon spaced buttons to selectively receive the :fastening means and thus provide adjustment. illhe and release the pressure :thereon,-thus permitting m spaced buttons tare objectionable because they bleeding or facilitating the onset of infection. Either result is highly objectionable, land :as a result bandagesof this type are not satisfactory. The present invention obviates these objections :must'belocated adjacent the incision or wound to provide proper application of pressure to ethe dressings iorgauze and when so located they .can easily result in uncomfortable pressure points by providingla nonslipsurgical bandage :thatwill Q5 the patient. The relianceonfthe resilience-of the notpull the skin of the :user but will positively hold itself and the dressings or gauze in place, thus preventing needless bleeding and keeping dirt and foreign matter away from the incision fastening means or'the material adjacentthereto to facilitate adjustment is objectionable 31ecause that resilience may actually permit shifting or slipping of the dressings or gauze. For

or wound. It is,'there'fore, anob'jectcof itheipresr50 theserea'sons previously proposed surgical band ent invention to provide a nonsliprsurgical bandage that will not pull the skin :of the user but will hold itself andthe dressings :or gauze in :position.

ages are objectionable. The present invention obviates these objections by providing .a cloth surgical bandage with lcopsadjacent the incision or .wound that-:prouideupropcr application. ufrpres- @thcr surgical bandages have Lbeen proposed M sure without creating uncomfortable pressure e3 points on the patient, and it also provides yielding sections that are spaced away from the incision or wound. It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a surgical bandage with loops adjacent the incision or wound and with yielding sections spaced away from the incision or wound.

In using an adjustable nonslip surgical bandage, it is often necessary to retain the bandage on the person of the user throughout the entire time the wound requires sterile dressings. This may be several days or even several'weeks; and, of course, during that period the bodily functions of the patient must occur. While those bodily functions must be permitted to take place, the must not be permitted to interfere with the maintenance of the sterile condition of the dressings or gauze held by the surgical bandage. The present invention provides a bandage that makes this possible by providing a nonslip surgical bandage which extends around the trunk of the patient and has leg portions that extend along the outer surfaces of the legs and are held in place by ties which extend around the inside surfaces of the legs at points intermediate the knees and hips of the user. In this way the holding portions of the bandage are so located that the bodily functions of the user can be taken care of without necessitating the removal or shifting or soiling of the surgical bandage. It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an improved surgical bandage which'has a portion which extends around the trunk of the user and has leg portions that extend along the outside surfaces of the legs of the user and are held in place by ties which extend around the inside surfaces of the legs at points intermediate the knees and the hips of the user.

The surgical bandage of the present invention has its shortest girth at the top thereof, and it has an appreciably longer girth at its middle. Moreover, the bandage is so made that the top thereof can be adjusted to snugly fit the waist of the user. As a result, the very shape of the bandage cooperates with the shape of the user to resist slipping or shifting of the bandage downwardly; and since the leg portions of the bandage cooperate with the shape of the users legs to resist upward slipping or shifting of the bandage, the bandage is always positively held against slipping or shifting. The top of the bandage and the leg portions are spaced apart an appreciable distance and, therefore, they will not exert undesirable pulling or pressure on the incision or wound.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention should become apparent from an examination of the drawing and accompanying description.

In the drawing and accompanying description, a preferred form of the invention is shown and described but it is to be understood that the drawing and accompanying description are for the purposes of illustration only and do not limit the invention and that the invention will be defined by the appended claims.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 is an elevational view of the outer surface of a surgical bandage embodying the principles and teachings of the present invention, and it shows that bandage as it is unfolded; and

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the bandage of Fig. 1, as that bandage is folded in position around the body of a person, indicated by dotted lines.

Referring to the drawing in detail, the numeral l0 denotes the central portion of the bandage provided by the present invention and that portion of the bandage will normally engage the back of the patients trunk. The central portion l6 has integrally formed, downwardly depending projections l2 which will extend along the outer surface of the legs of the patient and those downwardly depending projections are provided with straps or ties [4 which are sufficiently long to extend around the inner surfaces of the patients legs. The top of the central portion is provided with darts l6 and those darts cooperate with the cut of the central portion It to enable the central portion It) to have its shortest girth at the top thereof.

A number of short pieces of elastic material l8 are aligned in two spaced rows, and are securely and permanently attached, as by stitches, to the side edges of the central portion Ill. The pieces of elastic material 18 are set close to each other but they are individually operable to expand or contract, thus facilitating the adjustment of the bandage to the person of the user.

Side portions 28 are securely and permanently attached, as by stitching, to the outer edges of the aligned elastic strips i8; and the portions 20 are thus securely and permanently attached to the central portion If}. The side portions 20 are provided with darts 22; and those darts 22 cooperate with the cut of the side portions 20 to enable the side portions 26 to have their shortest girths at the top. Since the elastic strips 18 have the same width, in relaxed condition, the bandage will, in its relaxed positiomhave its shortest girth at the top thereof. 1

The side portions 26 are provided with in-' tegrally formed, downwardly extending projections 24 that can also extend along the outer surfaces of the legs of the patient. The downwardly extending projections 24 are provided with loops 26 at the bottom of the outer edges thereof. These loops are made large enoughto receive the straps or ties M without wrinkling or folding; and they hold the straps or ties M in position against the person of the user. The nds of the straps or ties It may be releasably attached to the downwardly projecting portions 24, as by safety pins 28.

The side portions 20 are also provided with a number of spaced pinning tabs 3!]; and these tabs are securely and permanently attached to the side portions 20 by having just one of their ends stitched to the side portions 20. The other ends of the pinning tabs 30 are free, thus facilitating attachment of pins to the tabs without any danger of pricking the patient. In addition, the pinning tabs 30 also act to cushion the person of the user against pressure which contact between the bed clothes and the pins might otherwise tend to exert. Spaced from, but in register with, the pinning tabs 30 are loops 32; and these loops are adjacent the outer edges of the side portions 20.

Formed integrally with the side portions 20 are spaced straps or ties 34 which project outwardly from the outer edges of the side portions 20. The straps or ties 34 on each side portion 20 alternate with the loops 32 on that side portion; and the straps or ties 34 on one of the side portions 29 alternate with the straps or ties 34 on the other side portion 2i]. As a result, the straps or ties 34 supplement rather than duplicate each other; and they can operate, as shown in Fig. 2, to provide a practically continuous supporting arenas? surface "which overlies the dressings or gauze. Thestraps 0r ties34 of each'side portion will pass through the'loops 32 and will be releasably pinned to the pinning tabs as of the other side portion 20. Safety pins 36 canabe used to secure thestraps or ties 34 to the pinning tabsiflfl.

'The loops 32 provide very :close :control of the straps or ties 35 without making it necessary to place the safety pins 35 close to the incision or wound. In this way any pressure that may be developed by the bed clothing on the safety pins 35 :will be developed at points spaced from the incision .or :wound; and thus the wound will be free from pressure points of this type.

The side portions 2!! of the bandage are so dimensioned that, when the bandage is applied to the person of the user, the side portions 2|] will not meet but will leave an open space; and this open space will be spanned by the straps or ties 34. The open space can be made larger or smaller than the space shown in Fig. 2 by using a larger or smaller bandage or 'by'stretching or relaxing the elastic strips 58. In this way the size of the space can be made to fit the requirements of the dressing or gauze for the incision or wound. The width and number of the straps or ties as is such that when the straps or "ties have passed through the loops "32 and have been pinned to the tabs 39, the straps or ties 634 form an almost continuous cover for the sterile dressings or gauze placed against the incision or wound.

The downwardly depending projections IQ of the central portion and the downwardly dependingprojections 24 of the side portions 20 are dimensioned so they cover only the outer surfaces of the users legs, thus leaving the inner surfaces of-the users legs quite free and open. The straps or ties M, which are attached to thedownwardly depending projections l2 willextend around the inner surfaces of the users legs but they are narrow and will not encumber the inner surface of the users legs. The straps or ties "[4 will be pinned or otherwise securedto the projections 24 of the side portions 25 and will cooperate with the projections 52 and 24 to limit upward move merit-of the bandage.

The bandage is so formed and dimensioned that the central portion Ii! will extend across the back of the users trunk, the elastic strips 'lil will be located atthe users sides, the side portions 20 will extend over a part of the front of the user's trunk, and the straps or ties 34 will cover the rest of the front of the users trunk. The short girth at the top of the bandage will enable the bandage to fit the waistof the user, and the wider girth at the middle of the bandage will enable the bandage to lit the hips of the user. These two girths will cooperate with the shape of the user to resist downward movement of the bandage, and the straps or ties l4 and thedownwardly depending projections l2 and 2 3 will cooperate with the shape of the users legs to resist upward movement of the bandage, thus enabling the bandage to avoid slipping or shifting.

The central portion H] and the side portions 20 arealso formed and dimensioned so the major portions thereof are above a line between the large trochanters of the femurbones of the user, thus providing ample room 'for ,,attendance to bodily functions. In addition, by having most of the central and side portions of the bandage above that line, those portions do not have to accommodate the marked change of curvature adjacent that line and thus wrinkling of the cencomplicated lacingof the straps or ties.

6 tral and side portions of the bandage is avoided. The straps :.or ties 4-4 are spac d downwardly an appreciable :distance fromthe line connecting the large trochanters, and thus .they will not be soiled or stained.

The elasticity of the strips I8 and the adjustability of thestrapsor .ties 134 permit the bandage to "be used on patients of varying size :and weight without any discomfort to the patient. In addition, the elasticity .of the strips l8 permit free muscular movement of the legs and abdominal muscles without a shifting of the straps 34 relative to the incision o r wound. Thus it is possible to place :the :sterile dressings or gauze directly over the incision or wound and ai'fix the straps or ties .34 in position over the sterile dressings or gauze, and fully protect the patient against needless bleeding or infection caused by shifting or slipping of the dressing.

The bandage provided by "the present invention is completely smooth on its inner surface, all of the loops and tabs being attached to its outer surface. As a result the bandage fits smoothly and comfortably against the person of the user.

1 The bandage is further desirable because the straps or ties .34 do not overlap; as a result the bandage will not be wrinkled and will not be bulky. Furthermore, this permits each strap or tie to be handled individually, thus avoiding In :addition, the edges of the straps or ties I4 and 34 are provided with stitching l 5 and 35 respectively to prevent rolling of the straps or ties as a result of Washing or repeated usage. Thus the bandage will always be easy to apply and will alwa s provide smooth and uniform application of pressure to the sterile dressings or gauze.

Whereas a preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown and described in the draw ing and accompanying description, it should be Obvious :to those skilled in the art that various changes may .be made in the form of the invention-without-aifeoting the scope thereof.

What I claim is:

l. A bandagethatcomprises a central portion, a plurality-(inside Portions that have free edges which are spaced apart to define an area adjacent an incisionor wound, broad, flat outwardly extending ties on said side portions, said ties projecting outwardly :from the free edges of said side portions, the ties on each of said free edges of said :side :porticns being spaced apart distances approximating the width of the ties on the free edgeof the opposed side portion, the ties on each of said free edgesoi said side portions being in register with the spaces between the ties .onthe "free edge of the-opposed side portion, pinning tabs on said side portions that :are spaced inwardly from the free edges of said side portions, and tie-receiving loops adjacent the free edges of said side portions.

"2. A surgical bandage that has a central portion which is adapted to extend across the back of a patient, a plurality ofside portions which are dimensioned to extend around the sides of said patient and to define an open coextensive with the abdomen of said patient, a plurality of individual elastic members aligned along both edges of said central portion and attaching said side portions to said central portion, a plurality of broad, flat ties that extend outwardly from the free edges of said side portions of the bandage and are adapted to overlie the said open area, the ties on the free edge of one of said side portions being spaced apart distances equal to the width of the ties on the free edge of said other side portion and the ties on the free edge of said other side portion being spaced apart distances equal to the width of the ties on the free edge of said one side portion, the ties on the free edge of each of said side portions being in register with the spaces between the ties on the free edge of the opposed side portion whereby said ties on said side portions can coact to overlie sterile dressings or gauze applied to an incision or wound in the abdomen of the patient, leg portions which extend below the hips of the user and which have spaced, confronting edgesties which extend between the said confronting edges of said leg portions at points intermediate the patients hips and knees and hold the bandage against movement upwardly, said bandage being dimensioned so the top thereof is smaller than dimensions located downwardly from the top whereby the bandage can resist movement downwardly, pinning tabs spaced inwardly from the iree edges of said side portions of the bandage, and loops adjacent the free edges of said side portions, said loops being adapted to receive the ties and to provide close control of the pinning of the bandage Without necessitating the provision of pins adjacent the incision or wound.

3. A bandage that is adapted to hold dressings adjacent an incision or wound, said bandage having spaced free edges that define an area surrounding said incision or wound, ties that extend outwardly from said free edges of said bandage to overlie said area and said incision or wound, and tie-confining members adjacent said free edges of said bandage, said ties being adapted to span the space between said free edges, being adapted to be confined by said tie-confining members, and being adapted to extend beyond said tie-confining members and be secured to said bandage at points spaced from said tie-confining members, whereby securing devices that are used to secure said ties to said bandage are spaced from and cannot exert pressure on said incision or wound.

4. A bandage that is adapted to hold dressings adjacent an incision or wound, said bandage haviri spaced free edges that define an area surrounding said incision or wound, ties that extend outwardly from said free edges of said bandage to overlie said area and said incision or wound, tie-confining members adjacent said free edges of said bandage, said ties being adapted to span the space between said free edges, being adapted to be confined by said tie-confining members, and being adapted to extend beyond said tie-confining members and be secured to said bandage at points spaced from said tiemonfining members, and pinning tabs on said bandage, said pinning tabs being said points spaced from said tie-confining members, whereby securing devices that are used to secure said ties to said pinning tabs are spaced from and cannot exert pressure on said incision or wound.

5. A bandage that is adapted to hold dressings adjacent an incision or wound, said bandage having spaced free edges that define an area surrounding said incision or wound, a plurality of broad, flat ties extending outwardly from one of said free edges to span the space between said free edges and thus overlie said area and said incision or wound, and tie-confining members adjacent the other of said free edges to confine said ties, said ties being confined by but extending beyond whereby securing devices that are used to secure said ties to said bandage are spaced from and cannot exert pressure on said incision or wound.

6. A bandage that is adapted to hold dressings adjacent an incision or Wound, said bandage having spaced free edges that define an area surrounding said incision or wound, a plurality of ties extending outwardly from said free edges to span the space between said free edges and to overlie part of the bandage beyond said free edges, said ties from one free edge alternating with the ties from the other free edge, and tie- COllfilliIlg members adjacent said free edges, said ties extending through and beyond said tie-confining members whereby securing elements that secure said ties to said bandage will be spaced from said incision or wound and cannot create a pressure on that incision or Wound.

7. A bandage that is adapted to hold sterile dressings or gauze adjacent an incision or wound in the abdomen of a patient and that comprises a central portion of relatively elastic material that is adapted to extend across the back of the patient, a plurality of side portions of relatively inelastic material that extend around the sides of said patient, an elastic element extending between and connecting said central portion with one of said side portions, a second elastic element extending between and connecting said central portion with the other of said side portions, said central portion and said side portions and said elastic elements being dimensioned so said elastic elements are disposed adjacent the sides of said patient and are spaced from said incision. or wound.

8. A bandage that is adapted to hold sterile dressings or gauze adjacent an incision or wound in the abdomen of a patient and that comprises a central portion of relatively inelastic material that is adapted to extend across the back of the patient, a plurality of side portions of relatively inelastic material that extend around the sides of said patient, a plurality of individual, aligned elastic elements extending between and connecting said central portion with one of said side portions, a second plurality of individual, aligned elastic elements extending between and connecting said central portion with the other of said side portions, said central portion and said side portions and said elastic elements being dimensioned so said elastic elements are disposed adjacent the sides of said patient and are spaced from said incision or Wound, said individual,

aligned elastic elements being individually extensible to varying extents to accommodate patients of varying size and weight.

MARGARET S. WHINERY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 611,920 Markle Oct. 4, 1898 1,494,086 Weil May 13, 1924 1,599,638 Buchanan Sept. 14, 1926 1,672,296 B'enisch June 5, 1928 2,097,903 Wallis Nov. 2, 193'] said tie-confining members, 

